After the Thrill of Living
by PhoenixPhoether
Summary: Harry and Ginny have had a long day after sending the last of their children on the Hogwarts Express and managing their jobs. They just want to reconnect, but they're not entirely enjoying themselves. Can they redeem their evening?


**Warnings: Smut (het version); a little swearing; bad sex**

**A/N: So, I do usually ship H/D, but I was in the mood for some cute, fluffy H/G smut today. This story is actually a re-write of a non-fanfic short story I wrote and published elsewhere. So if by some weird twist of fate you've actually read the other version, rest assured I have not plagiarised. That is, unless one can plagiarise from oneself.**

**Disclaimer: If it looks familiar from JKR's books, then it's not mine. If it looks familiar from someone else's fanfic, it wasn't intentional. I don't own any of these characters, but I do like to mess with their heads.**

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Ginny was exhausted. It had been a long day, between sending all three of the children off to Hogwarts that morning and frustrating afternoon at work, and all she wanted was to put on her pyjamas and curl up in bed with the covers over her head. She climbed the stairs slowly, already removing her confining business attire as she went.

Inside the bedroom, she finished undressing and donned a pair of soft, grey pyjama bottoms and an old t-shirt. With a groan, she flopped face-down on top of the covers. She was even too tired to turn back the sheets and duvet.

Meanwhile, Harry was busy finishing a report he needed to send by owl post before midnight. He attached the message to the owl's leg and sent it off into the night, then leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms over his head. He tilted his head to one side and then the other, working out the kinks. At last he stood up, flicked his wand at the lights in his office, and left the Ministry.

He Apparated directly home, where he heard Ginny heading up the stairs. He was achingly tired. He was glad it was almost the weekend; they could both use some rest. Not for the first time he considered changing departments just to avoid all the parchments. Bloody stupid idea, agreeing to be the Head of the Aurors.

After a quick glass of water, Harry followed Ginny up to their bedroom. He smiled at her prone form on the bed, her hair partially covering her face. He pulled off his clothes and grabbed a pair of tracksuit bottoms out of a drawer.

When he settled down beside Ginny, she turned her head toward him. She smiled, though she kept her eyes closed. "Thought you'd be at work a while yet."

"Nah. I had all evening to work on the report. I missed having time together, though."

"Mmm." She cracked one eyelid. "We could make up for it now."

"You sure? I'm sort of tired, and you look knackered yourself."

"It's all right. We've barely seen each other today."

"True," Harry agreed, inching closer.

They didn't bother with preamble; they just pulled off their own clothes and worked their way to the middle of the bed—where they promptly butted heads.

"Ow!" Ginny yelped.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Harry planted a kiss on her forehead and then slid his lips downward.

It was a little sloppy, but Ginny responded by parting her lips slightly to let Harry slide his tongue along hers. They kissed for a bit, gradually wriggling closer until their bodies were lined up. Harry trailed his fingers down Ginny's side, at which she giggled and squirmed away slightly. He moved his hand with a muffled apology, cupping her breast instead. He teased her nipple, bending to replace his fingers with his mouth.

Ginny chose that exact moment to shift slightly, causing Harry's teeth to clamp down painfully. She squawked, and he retreated, bringing his hand back up. She slipped her fingers down between them, intending to gently stroke him. Instead, her fingernail caught on the skin of his inner thigh, scratching him just as he adjusted his leg to give her more room.

"Ungh," he said.

Ginny moved her hand. "Oops."

After a little more wriggling, they finally managed to touch each other. Ginny slid her hand lightly up and down, and Harry slipped his fingers between Ginny's legs, rubbing gently. This continued for a while, and things began to heat up between them. Harry tried to roll onto his back, pulling Ginny with him. Her foot tangled in the sheet and she landed on top of him with a _whoomp_. He groaned loudly, and it wasn't with pleasure. Ginny righted herself so they could pick up where they'd left off.

Ginny slid down Harry's body so that her lips trailed along his stomach and further down. He drew his leg up, catching her in the shoulder. Ginny let out her breath forcefully.

"Dammit! That hurt!" she exclaimed.

"Shit. Sorry!"

She massaged her shoulder for a moment, then resumed her path. When she reached her destination, she kissed a trail up from the base to the tip of his erection—until she realised she'd ended up with a few stray hairs in her mouth. She tried to remove them discreetly, but she saw Harry eyeing her curiously. Ignoring him, she parted her lips and drew him into her mouth. He closed his eyes and let his head drop backwards.

She began to move, causing Harry to thrust upward. Ginny always loved his reactions to this. Unfortunately, she made the mistake of trying to smile around him while he was mid-thrust, and her teeth caught against his sensitive skin. He yelped, and she pulled back.

Ginny gave up and crawled back up to kiss Harry. They ran their hands over each other's bodies and moved together, Ginny straddling his hips and grinding into him. Eventually, Harry rolled Ginny over again. She reached between them and guided him inside, and they found a rhythm. They kept pace, moving together as their bodies became damp from exertion.

Twenty minutes later, Ginny had had enough. Her exhausted body just wasn't going to respond, and she could tell that Harry was more or less in the same boat. At least, she assumed he was; he definitely hadn't come yet. She kissed him lightly and withdrew, letting him know she'd reached her limit. He pulled out and flopped down on the bed next to her.

Ginny sighed in frustration. She had been looking forward to finding new ways to distract each other from missing their children. This was the first time they'd been truly alone for an extended time in fourteen years. All she'd wanted was to make love with her husband, but she'd been left unsatisfied and annoyed. She huffed and grabbed her clothes.

As she was tidying herself up and putting her pyjamas back on, Harry said quietly, "Um…do you mind if I, er, just finish?" He looked sheepishly between Ginny and his semi-hard cock.

Suddenly, the whole thing seemed amusing. She bit back a giggle, out of courtesy for Harry. "Nope. Go right ahead." She felt the bed move slightly as he shifted into a more comfortable position, and she leaned back into her pillow. She opened one eye slightly, watching him stroke himself.

As he slid his hand slowly up and down, Ginny's eyes widened and her breath sped up. She'd never actually watched Harry wanking before, and she decided it was one of the sexiest things she'd ever seen. _Hmmm_, she thought. _This night might be redeemable after all_.

Ginny reached over and stilled Harry's hand. He turned to look at her, surprised. "What is it?" he asked.

"Just that watching you do that is…incredibly arousing."

He flushed. "Er."

She put her lips right up to his ear. "Do you want to watch me, too?" she whispered.

"Oh, God. Yes, please."

She turned onto her back and pushed herself up on her pillows a bit before sliding her hand slowly down her body until she could slip her fingers between her legs. She glanced over at Harry, who swallowed audibly. He shifted position so he was straddling her, once again taking himself in hand. She let the fingers of her free hand drift up to join his, stroking along with him. Eventually, he let go and she took up where he'd left off. He trailed his fingers across her thigh and replaced hers, running his thumb lightly against her and then steadily increasing in speed and pressure until he was touching her exactly the way he knew she liked.

The room filled with their soft moans and grunts. With a long, low groan, Harry came, spilling onto her abdomen. The sight was thoroughly erotic; Ginny gave herself over to her orgasm, lifting slightly and pressing into Harry's hand.

Still shaking and breathing hard, they moved apart. Harry flopped over onto his back and summoned a soft cloth to clean them both up. When they were done, he laid his hand on her cheek. "Wow," he said. "That was…sexy."

"Fantastic," Ginny agreed.

Harry smiled and twisted a lock of her hair around his finger. They were quiet for several moments. Eventually, Harry said softly, "You miss them, don't you?"

Ginny sighed. "More than I thought I would. I assumed that after the first two, it wouldn't be so bad when Lily left." She frowned. "I don't want to be like Mum, always having to know where everyone is every minute. But I think I'm going that way."

Harry propped himself up on his forearm. "You know why she still does it."

"I do. And I know I don't have to worry. Still…" she let her voice trail off.

Harry didn't say anything for a minute. "This was a pretty good distraction," he said at last.

"It was." Ginny paused, then groaned and threw her arm over her face.

"What?" Harry frowned.

"I really didn't need to think about my parents 'distracting' one another after we all left for school."

Harry choked on his own saliva. "Dear God, that was not an image I needed in my brain just now."

Ginny watched him try to recover. She couldn't help it; she started laughing. After a moment, Harry joined in.

When their amusement had died down, they both settled under the covers. Ginny slid closer to Harry, who wrapped his arms around her. It was nice, being able to remain skin-to-skin without fear of interruption.

"You know," she whispered, "it's okay that this started off badly. I think we more than made up for it."

Harry smiled into her hair. "Absolutely."

With that, they closed their eyes and drifted off to sleep.


End file.
